WHO says SARS virus is now contained on global scale скачать в хорошем качестве

WHO says SARS virus is now contained on global scale

(5 Jul 2003) 1. Wide set up Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the World Health Organisation's director-general and Dr. David Heymann, WHO's executive director of communicable diseases 2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-general of the World Health Organisation: "Today the WHO is removing Taiwan China from its list of areas of recent local transmission of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). The last case detected and isolated in Taiwan was June the 15th, that is 20 days ago. Two consecutive 10-day incubation periods, the WHO criteria for removing a country from the list has therefore been passed. As you know Taiwan is the last place to be removed from the list, so today is a milestone. We have only known about this disease since February, it spread rapidly to 30 countries on all five continents affecting 8439 people, killing 812. But today due to an unprecedented global collaboration in health, the WHO can say that the SARS outbreaks have been contained worldwide." 3. Wide of Brundtland and Heymann STORYLINE: The United Nations (UN) health agency declared on Saturday that SARS was no longer spreading in the world's last hotspot, Taiwan - closing a chapter in a battle with the often-deadly virus that ravaged Asia and infected thousands across the globe. But as the World Health Organisation (WHO) scratched Taiwan from its list of SARS-infected areas, the group warned that the mysterious illness could make a comeback. SARS was believed to have originated in southern China, where the first known cases began appearing last November. From China, experts believe the flu-like illness jumped to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore. The highly contagious bug eventually travelled as far as South Africa and Canada, killing more than 800 people worldwide and infecting at least 84-hundred. Initially, Taiwan had great success fending off SARS. Officials grew confident that they had whipped the virus as the death tolls continued to climb in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. But in late April, the virus exploited weaknesses at Taiwanese hospitals, which failed to properly diagnose and isolate infected patients. SARS quickly spread in the capital, Taipei, and the deaths began accumulating. Taiwan eventually became the world's number 3 SARS hotspot, with a total 84 deaths and 682 infections. To get off the WHO's list, infected areas have to go 20 consecutive days without reporting a new infection. In Taiwan, the countdown began from June 15, the day the island's most recent SARS patient was isolated in a hospital. On Saturday, Dr. David Heymann, WHO's executive director of communicable diseases, said WHO believed the virus has been contained. But he warned against becoming too complacent. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...